Look Again!

Look Again!

Cozens & Cozens: Second Look Club

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NEWSJULY 31, 2017

Look Again!

Look Again!

Cozens & Cozens: Second Look Club

Three works by Alexander Cozens, the 18th century landscape water-colourist were amongst the first works purchased by the Friends of the Whitworth in 1934 and 1935/36: Classical Landscape Study, Rain Storm Over Mountains and Study of a Tree. Over 80 years later the work of Alexander, and his son, John Robert, were the focus of the second meeting of our Look Club when it met on 27th July.

Leading the discussion, Juliet Jones, a member of the Friends’ Committee and herself a water colourist, put the work in context for us so we were able to appreciate the ways in which Alexander’s work as a master at Eton, and his son’s travels as a tutor and companion in Europe, played a role in shaping their priorities and approach. Juliet’s account-and our conversation-ranged much more widely, though. Did the work speak to us today? What did it say? What was their relationship to and influence on their contemporaries? Not least, how did a discussion about their work bring into focus the potential of water colour as a medium, and how has that potential been developed over time? We looked at other work-by Constable, by modern artists, and, perhaps most intriguingly, at work by some of Juliet’s ancestors. It seems that painting in water colour runs in families!

The Cozens and Cozens Exhibition is on at the Whitworth Gallery till June 2018, so still plenty of time to visit. You can also browse the sketchbooks of John Robert Cozens, digitized by the Whitworth for the first time here.

Three works by Alexander Cozens, the 18th century landscape water-colourist were amongst the first works purchased by the Friends of the Whitworth in 1934 and 1935/36: Classical Landscape Study, Rain Storm Over Mountains and Study of a Tree. Over 80 years later the work of Alexander, and his son, John Robert, were the focus of the second meeting of our Look Club when it met on 27th July.

Leading the discussion, Juliet Jones, a member of the Friends’ Committee and herself a water colourist, put the work in context for us so we were able to appreciate the ways in which Alexander’s work as a master at Eton, and his son’s travels as a tutor and companion in Europe, played a role in shaping their priorities and approach. Juliet’s account-and our conversation-ranged much more widely, though. Did the work speak to us today? What did it say? What was their relationship to and influence on their contemporaries? Not least, how did a discussion about their work bring into focus the potential of water colour as a medium, and how has that potential been developed over time? We looked at other work-by Constable, by modern artists, and, perhaps most intriguingly, at work by some of Juliet’s ancestors. It seems that painting in water colour runs in families!

The Cozens and Cozens Exhibition is on at the Whitworth Gallery till June 2018, so still plenty of time to visit. You can also browse the sketchbooks of John Robert Cozens, digitized by the Whitworth for the first time here.

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